7 Things That Might Surprise You About Growing Up With An Author

   1. It’s not glamorous. We are very normal people. If you meet my mom and exude hero worship because “this is a real, live author!” [flutter, flutter], I will roll my eyes. Do you know why? Guess who got to do mundane, real-life things like cooking, laundry and cleaning so mom could peck away at a typewriter, honing her craft? Who made it possible for her to write? Yup, yours truly. Know what else? It’s a thankless job. No one thanks the writer’s assistant aka kid. (Well, ok, I do have a book dedicated to me. That’s something.)   

   2.  I hated being asked “So is your mom working on any new books right now?” I [still] hate this question because there is a high probability that A. she is, B. I know what it is, and C. I’m not allowed to say. Why can’t I say? Primarily because the general public has no idea how long it takes to write a book. If mom says she is writing one, people expect to see it on the shelf in roughly 6 months. Not gonna happen. News flash, folks, it can take up to 10 years to write a [well-written] book. No one wants to be pestered while they work. So it’s our family’s policy to not say what the latest project is until it is almost ready to be sent to the printer. So do me a favor and don’t ask. Even if you are my BFF, I’m probably not going to tell you. Seriously, it’s not my news to tell.  

*And while we’re on the subject of how long it takes to write a book… you know those bestselling authors that crank out a book every year? I hate to break it to you but either they have a ghost writer doing some of their writing for them, or the quality of their work goes down in direct proportion to their increasing production. I could start naming names but I won’t. Trust me, it’s just not humanly possible to manufacture that volume of pages in that short amount of time. Authors are not robots, and publishers shouldn’t treat their success like a cash cow.  

   3. Just because I am the offspring of an author does not make me genetically predisposed to be an author, too. Thanks for asking, but I don’t have any plans of writing a novel. Ever. Some of my siblings & I have been told we inherited mom’s way with words, but frankly, I’m happier about inheriting my dad’s metabolism.    

   4. You were subjected to startling announcements at the dinner table at times. Your totally nonresistant Mennonite mom might randomly announce “I killed someone today.” True story. A character in the latest fiction project was no longer relevant to the story, so he gets tragically killed in an accident. Problem solved. (Bonus points for you if you know which book this is.)

   5. Writing books does not make an author rich. Fact is, if you tally up the time invested and divide it by the profit that trickles down to the author, he/she is “working for peanuts”. (Yes, if they self-publish they keep more of the profit, but then they also have to pay for their own advertising and marketing. They have cases & cases of books stashed in the basement they are responsible to either sell or lose money on.) Either way, they do it because they love working with words, not for the money. So we didn’t grow up with any luxuries because mom was a writer.  

  6. I don’t memorize the titles of all my mom’s books, so don’t ask me to name them off.  I’ve read every single one, but I don’t like to be put on the spot naming them. Just google it. (Refer back to #1) 

    7.  No one ever reads you your Miranda rights, but anything you say or do can be used against you. Not in a court of law, but in a story. About that… You know the PKs that cringe about being used for sermon illustrations? They don’t have anything on AKs! The published word reaches a much, much wider audience than a single congregation. Just saying.   

Why My Life Is Akin To "The Black Stallion"

   Remember those great classics we all read growing up? Little Women, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, Cheaper By the Dozen, Where the Red Fern Grows, Gone With The Wind, and All Creatures Great & Small to name a few. Then there is Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion. The story of a horse & a boy. “The Black” is stronger, faster, and smarter than all the other horses, but because of his unruly personality is unable to compete in races. Alec can see the stallion’s potential. He knows if all that power could be harnessed, the horse could be a champion. With love and firmness, Alec trains the stallion, and the horse learns to accept the reins and the commands of his master to utilize his amazing speed and wins an important race.

   

   I know someone who is a lot like The Black. He is strong and smart and “marches to a different drummer”, which gets him in trouble sometimes. Just like the black stallion had to learn to accept reins and the commands of a master, my someone had to learn discipline and accept training to harness his quirks into something useful -in order to become a winner, too. We all have this deep need to fit in, so it's not an easy thing to feel constantly out-of-step with everyone else. 

   And like Alec had to keep believing in the stallion’s potential, even when it wasn’t going so well, as a mom I’ve had to ‘believe it forward’ through the ups and down of this roller coaster ride of life. 

   April is Autism Awareness Month. I’ve written quite a bit about our journey in the past, so there really isn’t anything new to say this year. Currently I am reading “Different: The Story of an Outside-the-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him” by Sally & Nathan Clarkson. Even though Autism/Aspergers is not part of Nathan’s diagnosis, this book is an encouragement to me on so many levels. There are chapters about Wrestling God, Different Drumming, and Beyond “Why Me?” among others. I highly recommend it if you are dealing with a challenging child in your life.

   Here’s to the brave kids who are ‘different’, and the parents who are believing a loving Creator has an intentional plan for their life. (Especially when they can't see it yet.)  

   

“God is out there in the dark right past the spotlight, watching me perform this song called life.

 I don’t think He’s waiting for mistakes or counting the mess-ups.

I think He’s waiting to jump to His feet in applause.”

–Nathan Clarkson

Our Latest Travels

What a interesting, fun, crazy ending to March we've had! When we travel, things NEVER go as planned. Read on...

First some background. When my in-laws purchased a house in Florida back in 2002 and became "snow birds", 'Grandma' missed the grandchildren during the winter months so we dutifully started making the trek to Pinecraft every other winter for her sake. At first our children were small and could easily sleep on sofas and/or the floor, but now they are adults and living with Grandpa's is much too cramped. For the in-laws sake, as much as ours, we said "enough" and determined to rent a house instead when we vacation in FL. (Somehow we've become hooked on going to FL, so it's not really an option to just stop going.) We hardly even knew where to start looking for a rental, but then our DIL got us connected with her uncle's new rental house. We hit the jackpot, but more about that later.
 We reserved the house for mid-January 2018, but then came the news of a grandbaby due right at that time. We just knew we wouldn't be able to tear ourselves away when it was time for baby Miller to make an appearance, especially considering that babies tend to be unreliable about observing due dates. So we rescheduled -the next available dates were for the last week of March. (With dreams of newborns dancing in our heads, we failed to take into consideration that this was also the infamous spring break for college kids, and Easter weekend, and other assorted scheduling conflicts.) 
   Late March is a bit of a gamble- one never quite knows what the weather will be like. It seems frivolous to spend hard-earned cash on a vacation down south when we are getting an early spring at home. But lucky us, this year did not produce an early spring and the cost of soaking up sun feels justified. Everyone kept telling us we're going to love it in FL after the peak tourist season. This was the first winter we had the option of choosing anything other than Christmas vacation or winter break from school.
   A couple months ago we discovered we are booked to go to FL the same weekend as the Truck Show in KY, which we always attend. To make a long story short, we decided Richard & I would attend the truck show Thursday & Friday, then drive down to Florida from there. Jeremy & Arianna would fly down on Saturday and we'd pick them (and my parents) up at the airport. This would solve the rental car problem, the limit on luggage, and eliminate buying as many plane tickets during the [spring break] price spike.   

The next chapter of my adventure revolves around my group of former Hillcresters. We ladies get together at least once a year, sometimes more. These are still my people. If you would've told me 30 years ago that the staff girls I worked with then would still be my 'besties' today, I probably would've thought "yeah right". But I guess friendships forged through blood, sweat & tears of an overworked, underpaid V.S. unit tend to go the distance. 😊 They are the kind of friend that you can pick up right where you left off no matter how long it's been since you've connected. When the spring reunion was being planned and the dates didn't really work for me this time -being just prior to the aforementioned trip to the Truck Show & Florida- they begged and brainstormed with me how to make it work.
   You know how you hear about those incredibly cheap plane tickets that other people seem to find, but when you check into flights the great deals are never where or when you want to travel? Well, I got to thinking about how awesome it would be if Jeremy already had his pilot's license and could just fly me back & forth... and I decided to check tickets -just in case. Well, knock me over with a feather! I discovered there is a tiny airline that runs 3 flights per day from the little regional airport near the destination of said reunion to my closest international airport for $29 or $49 (depending on a few variables). One cannot drive the same route for that price, due to tolls alone (not to mention the highest gas tax in the nation)! I could not believe my good fortune. Not only does that price buy you a seat on the plane, it also includes 50# luggage. Who knew?! I missed the $29 ticket but snagged the last seat on my preferred flight for $49. I could hardly believe I was doing this... jetting across country by myself like a sophisticated businesswoman or something. The plan was to carpool to the reunion, then fly home a day ahead of everyone else so I would have a full day at home packing for vacation in a sane manner.         

The plot thickens...

So I made it to the reunion and we had a fantastic time catching up and hanging out together at an AirBnB in Lancaster. But then this happened...

Winter Storm Toby hit the east coast.

My flight for Tuesday evening got delayed, then cancelled. I rescheduled for Wednesday morning. It got delayed to afternoon, then cancelled again. No one was going anywhere and we were truly snowed in. Fortunately for us there was a cafe just down the street, in walking distance, that generously allowed us to buy both breakfast and take-out for another meal before they closed. I never in a hundred years thought snow would interfere with my travel plans when I bought the ticket. It's the end of March, for crying out loud! But 'snowed in' we were. 

   Meanwhile back home, it was raining. If I could just get off the east coast... Each step of the way I calculated the new itinerary. If I can get home by ------, I can do this and this to salvage the schedule.  But there was nothing I could do except watch the fat white flakes fall and wait for the storm to pass. So much for being sure that I can't stay till Wednesday and carpool home with the rest of the group! 

Hey, it could be worse. Much worse. No one died. The party simply got extended. 😊 

Thursday morning the airport was plowing out from under the 18" of snow, so it was 7:30 till a runway was open and we were cleared for take-off. 

 A relief to be in the air and homeward bound 

I do have a history of getting airsick, especially in small planes. So the proof of the pudding [about how awesome of a deal this was] was going to be in whether I could fly without getting sick. The plane did have airsick bags in the seat pocket- I checked. The co-pilot also served as the flight attendant and cheerfully informed us that in the unlikely event of a cabin fire she would pass the single fire extinguisher on board back to us passengers. 😁 While we were taxi-ing on the runway, the plane was scootching around on the ice and I wasn't too sure what I was getting myself into, but as soon as we got up to flying altitude we had a smooth ride and I was fine. As a matter of fact, I almost fell asleep. If you know me, that's really saying something because I'm not one of those lucky people that can fall asleep almost anywhere. Overall, I was rather impressed and will keep this airline in mind for future travel. 

So now that I was finally back home, I had to "hit the ground running". A big shout-out to the love of my life for dedicating his day to helping me get home, packed and back out the door again. There was a bookwork snafu that had to be untangled waiting on my desk at home, there were school teachers waiting on their paychecks, there was laundry to be done, there was food and clothes to be packed... he made a trip to the bank & library for me so I could keep working at home. I thought it would be a miracle if we are on the road by 5pm, but we actually pulled out of our driveway at 4:15! I was back on the road before the last ones driving from PA made it home. I had been home less than 6 hours and was packed for the next 10 days. And ...drum roll please... we didn't forget anything. 

We drove to Louisville for the night because the hotel room we had booked was non-refundable. The bottom line is- even though I was stranded in PA for 40 hours longer than intended, we were only 8 hours behind schedule. Winter Storm Toby cheated us out of a couple hours at the show, but we "came out on top" in the end. Afterwards we found out we really didn't miss anything because the [outdoor portion of the] show was covered in 6" of snow on Thursday. In almost 20 years of attending the Mid-America Trucking Show, we have never seen snow there. It's usually greener than at home and the redbuds are blooming. Not this year! I took this picture as proof.  

But I have to tell you, I was so tired Thursday night that I was sleeping almost before my head hit the pillow. Friday was show day and we managed to cover everything we wanted to see in 8 hours. Then  we hit the road again. Traffic was heavy, probably spring break travelers. We planned to stop just below Nashville somewhere, but for some reason every hotel for miles around was booked full and we had to drive to Chattanooga before we found room at the inn. It wasn't anything fancy but it sufficed for a couple hours. 

Saturday morning we were back on the road before daylight. Take my word for it, Krispy Kreme is worth driving 2 miles out of route when the hot light is lit. Just to be sure though, we ate 3. Each. 

 We drove all day Saturday. More heavy traffic. I have never seen the likes of standing in line at a rest area. Crazy! Remind me not to travel over spring break again. Meanwhile my parents and our kids texted us their progress southward. Ironically they both had a layover in Charlotte, but my parents left minutes before the kids landed there. My parents got to Tampa around 4, but we were stuck in traffic and couldn't pick them up till 5. Thanks to cell phones, we could warn them to take their time collecting their luggage so they didn't have to wait too long. Next we made our way to the Sarasota airport and collected the kids. Again timed well- we were circling the airport when they landed and we rearranged luggage to make room for them while they de-planed. We called ahead to order pizza and picked it up on our way to the rental house. It couldn't have worked any better if we had tried.     

Like I mentioned before, we hit the jackpot with this house. Not only is it a nice house in a great location (walking distance of Der Dutchmans 😊), it is fully stocked with just about anything you need for a FL vacation. From beach gear to bicycles to gas grill to high efficiency washer and fully stocked kitchen. And not just mismatched yard sale furniture and dishes either. There was even a coffee bar,  and condiments in the fridge. At first we just walked around opening cupboards and closets, marveling at everything. Ok, so we don't get out much, but we were in awe. I'm afraid we're spoiled; if we can't get this house next time, we're going to think anything else is subpar. I packed so much stuff from home that I didn't need because it was provided.       

And did we ever hit gorgeous weather! It was in the 80* range and sunny every day. 

Sunday we attended the Tourist Church. We discovered the man we were sitting behind was a commercial pilot; he gave Jeremy some advice. The couple who did our wedding portraits were also there. You just never know who you are going to see at Tourist! My parents started on their list of folks they wanted to visit that evening. They haven't been in Pinecraft since I was 1 year old, so do the math. 

Some highlights of our week were: 

grilling steaks

 going to the beach for sunset

going to Jungle Gardens 

 eating ice cream at Big Olaf's -a 'must' every trip!

 eating outside (grilled chicken this time)

 soaking up sun at South Lido

 ...and watching dolphins swim near shore there 

catching up on our loafing

 My mom -the genealogy buff- can't go anywhere without tramping through a graveyard. 

So we took my folks to the cemetery where the best man at their wedding is buried.

 going to the Lipizzan Stallion show

...and meeting the new foal on the farm

 

buying macaroons from the french bakery on St Armands Circle

 trying out KaCey's Seafood 

 living large with fresh produce 

 We are very blessed to still have all 4 of our parents -in relatively good health.

We invited Richard's parents over for a cookout one evening 

 We made our rounds to all the ice cream shops- Orange Leaf, Sweet Berries... 

yes, it was in the budget! 😀

(We completed the Financial Peace University classes while we were in FL)

We checked out of the rental Saturday morning and hit the road, heading north. Dreading the long drive doesn't make it any shorter. But we had 4 capable drivers to take turns this time. Traffic was very heavy again and it took 2 hours longer to drive out of FL than usual. The farther north we got the more traffic thinned out. We arrived home at 4:30am Sunday morning. It sure didn't feel like Easter to us! We slept several hours, then Josh & Ang brought Avery over -we missed this precious little munchkin so much while we were gone! She's not a big fan of FaceTiming yet.  

We tried to bring the lovely weather home in our suitcases, but obviously it didn't work. That 1" of snow on the ground this morning? Boooo!